Mayor Rob Ford wrote a “character reference” on City of Toronto letterhead vouching for a tow truck operator with a serious speeding conviction and other violations after municipal staff refused to reinstate the man’s licence, deeming him a potential public danger.

In a January 2012 letter to a city tribunal considering the matter, Ford wrote: “I have known Mr. Douglas Sedgewick through my role as an elected official active in the community. Mr. Sedgewick is an employee of Bill & Son Towing Inc. and he has always conducted himself in a courteous and polite manner.”

Sedgewick, who is also a convicted murderer and has a conviction for drug possession, told the Star he knows Ford from the community, has towed him from time to time, and his girlfriend is good friends with the mayor. Sedgewick said he called Ford and asked him to write a letter on his behalf. Ford was “somewhat” aware of his past, including his murder conviction from 1982, Sedgewick said.

After considering a variety of evidence, including the letter, the Toronto Licensing Tribunal overruled municipal staff and granted Sedgewick a licence with conditions. Staff had been concerned because his driver’s licence had been suspended after he was caught speeding 115 km/h in a 60 zone along the Queensway.

Because of the rate of speed, he was automatically charged with “stunt driving — driving at a rate of speed 50km/h or more over the posted limit,” under the Highway Traffic Act. The charge resulted in a one-week suspension and his vehicle was impounded.

Sedgewick had also been pulled over twice by a city licensing officer and found to have an expired tow truck driver's licence.

Ford and his staff have not responded to multiple requests for comment about the Sedgewick letter.

The issue of Ford writing letters arose last week when the Star revealed the mayor wrote a letter in support of Alexander “Sandro” Lisi, his friend and occasional driver who had been convicted of threatening to kill a woman and was facing a jail term. Lisi was recently charged with drug trafficking. The Star will be in court Tuesday arguing for the letter to be made public.

Sedgewick, 53, has been driving a city-licensed tow truck for 20 years. After his licence expired, the city denied his application to have it reinstated and a hearing was held Jan. 26, 2012.

Details of the tribunal’s decision and a reference to Ford’s letter were posted on a city website and the Star was given a copy of the audio from the hearing.

Police caught Sedgewick speeding on the Queensway in Etobicoke on an August afternoon in 2009. He was convicted of speeding at nearly double the posted limit in 2010 but city officials did not learn of the conviction and the automatic seven-day licence suspension he received for the stunt-driving charge until 2011. The stunt-driving charge was withdrawn in court, where Sedgewick pleaded guilty to and was convicted of speeding.

A city lawyer prosecuting the case said that “given especially the rate of speed at issue with this conviction there are reasons to believe that Mr. Sedgewick’s operation of a tow truck has infringed the rights of the public and has endangered their health and safety.”

Sedgewick said there was nobody on the Queensway when he was rushing in his tow truck to get to a medical appointment for cancer treatment, after dozing off in an Ikea parking lot. The city lawyer said it was “extremely unlikely there was zero traffic between 4:30 and 5:22 on a weekday” afternoon.

As to his being caught twice with an expired tow-truck operator licence, Sedgewick said he had moved and did not receive the expired permit notice.

Sedgewick’s manager at the tow truck company testified he was a reliable employee, organized charity events, worked despite being diagnosed with cancer and trained employees on driving and proper licensing procedures.

Sedgewick told the Star he called and asked Ford to write the letter, then picked it up at the mayor’s office. The letter is dated Jan. 24, 2012, two days before the hearing and states, “The purpose of this letter is to provide a character reference for Mr. Douglas Sedgewick.”

At the hearing, Sedgewick was asked how he knew Ford. His reply: “I have known him for many years. I have towed his personal vehicles, when it has broken down. Bill and Sons has a police contract in the area. That is how I was introduced to him. I see him on a regular basis in the community.”

His girlfriend, whom he would not identify to the Star, went to school with Ford and was “a very close friend,” the tribunal heard.

Sedgewick said he towed Ford’s vehicle two or three times, but did not recall where or when. “I picked them up on the side of the road, they were broken down, and delivered them to some mechanical shop of his choice.” The mayor paid for the tows, he told the Star.

In an interview, Sedgewick said he regrets asking for the letter. It did him “more harm than good” at the tribunal, but he said he was worried he wouldn’t be treated fairly.

Tribunal and city staff knew about Sedgewick’s murder conviction and it wasn’t considered at the hearing. City rules don’t block people with criminal convictions from holding a licence, provided enough time has passed.

Sedgewick was convicted of second-degree murder in 1982. He described it as a “terrible, terrible” thing he did as a young man. He said he has “paid his debt.”

He said Ford “knows somewhat” about his past but never pried for details.

On Feb. 9, 1981, Sedgewick, then 20, and Peter Holl, 18, broke into a Brampton-area home armed with rifles and wearing ski masks shortly after 9:30 p.m., according to court documents and stories published in the Brampton Guardian.

Sedgewick and Holl had learned there was money inside the home of Veronica Pearson, 51, her two sons, including Scott Pearson, 26.

Scott Pearson was told to lie on the family room floor and at some point his mother tried to wrestle the gun from Sedgewick’s hands and was knocked unconscious, according to coverage of the trial in the Brampton Guardian.

Scott Pearson grabbed Holl’s gun. Sedgewick ordered Pearson to drop the gun and then shot him in the chest, according to the stories.

Sedgewick and Holl used two stolen cars to escape and were arrested more than a week later. Sedgewick was charged with first-degree murder and Holl with second-degree murder.

They both pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and were sentenced to life imprisonment. Sedgewick was eligible for parole in 1993, according to the Brampton newspaper.

Sedgewick told the Star that Pearson’s mother slipped during the struggle and was knocked unconscious as a result of the fall. He said Pearson fired at him, and in a panic he aimed at and shot him in the arm. The bullet went through the limb and entered Pearson’s chest. He stressed he is in “no way,” excusing the seriousness of the crime.

The Star asked Ford, in writing, if he was aware of the murder conviction and Sedgewick’s driving record when he wrote the letter. Ford did not respond.

Sedgewick was convicted of possession of a narcotic in 1994, one of a string of convictions listed on an application to collect his DNA in 2006.

Sedgewick told the Star he had driven his tow truck into an autobody shop in Peel, to deliver a car that needed repairs and police officers walked in.

The police searched a mechanic and found a small amount of cocaine, he said. He said he had nothing to do with the drugs.

Sedgewick was arrested, his parole was suspended. He plead guilty and was sentenced to time served and fined $500, he said.

Also listed was an “attempt to escape lawful custody.” Sedgewick said he was in a Toronto detention centre, awaiting his 1982 trial, and someone in a room with him broke a window.

The “assault causing bodily harm,” and “possession of stolen property,” was because of the struggle with Veronica Pearson and the stolen vehicles used to escape, he said.

City officials can write reference letters for hearings. But Jennifer Raso, a lawyer acting for the City of Toronto, stressed to tribunal members that “very little weight” should be put on Ford’s letter.

“No matter who individuals within the city are getting character references from and what connections they have, everybody who wishes to carry on a business in the city of Toronto that’s regulated by (city bylaws) needs to comply with (those rules),” said Raso.

At the tribunal, Raso explained that municipal guidelines call for Sedgewick’s licence to be denied, based on his driving conviction and licensing history. But following her submissions, Raso said, the city proposed licensing him with strict conditions, including a week-long suspension and two years’ probation. The tribunal decided on the suspension and three years’ probation.

Tribunal chair Lionel Miskin told the Star that people appearing before the tribunal are “entitled to tender any evidence they choose.”

“The tribunal treated the letter in the same way it treats any other evidence in any case,” Miskin said in an email.